Young AIDS Victim Honored at Memorial

Ricky Ray, the oldest of three hemophiliac brothers with the AIDS virus, was buried Friday in his favorite football jacket, surrounded by stuffed animals and a banner calling him “a true warrior” against AIDS.

The 15-year-old died Sunday after months in and out of hospitals battling pneumonia, infections, eye problems and other complications of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Ricky was an advocate for AIDS awareness and said from the hospital last month that one of his last wishes was to urge President-elect Bill Clinton to expand AIDS research.

Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), acting as Clinton’s emissary, read a letter at a memorial service attended by about 400 relatives and friends.

“You have witnessed the worst and best in people and still have maintained a sense of hope and forgiveness,” Clinton wrote. He telephoned Ricky last month to invite him to the presidential inauguration.

The brothers were diagnosed in 1986 and were forced out of school in Arcadia, a southwest Florida community. A federal judge reinstated them a year later, but townspeople boycotted the school.

The family’s house was burned in an unsolved arson. The Rays moved to Sarasota and then to Orlando.

In an open casket, Ricky was dressed in his Tampa Bay Buccaneers jacket. A ribbon pinned to the jacket said: “I love you, Ricky’s sister.”

Stuffed animals and photos lined the casket above a banner reading, “Ricky Ray, A True Warrior.”

His brothers, Robert, 14, and Randy, 13, left the service briefly, apparently overcome. They returned toward the end.

“You became a symbol to the world of AIDS education,” said his mother, Louise, in a letter read by a minister as she sat nearby.

Sarasota County Explorer Scouts served as pallbearers.

At age 14, Ricky became the most public of the Rays with a brief engagement to a neighbor who was two years his senior.

Doctors said they believe that the boys contracted the virus through tainted blood products used to treat their hemophilia. Robert has AIDS.

Randy carries the virus but has no signs of illness. A sister, Candy, is disease-free.